Gender has complex and poorly understood effects on health throughout the different phases of life. The mechanisms underlying the unique course of several diseases affecting women remain unclear in part because of longstanding impediments to research efforts involving different disciplines. The long-term objective of this application supporting the Building Interdisciplinary Research Careers in Women's Health (BIRCWH) Program at Washington University is to produce independent investigators conducting interdisciplinary research in women's health. The application has a single specific aim: To identify outstanding young scientists committed to women's health who have completed fellowship training, match them with mentors working in an environment that promotes interdisciplinary research, and provide them with career development experiences leading to their independence. During the past 5 years, the Washington University BIRCWH Program has successfully achieved this aim through a combination of a mentored research experience (utilizing a pool of outstanding mentors representing a broad research base encompassing most of the diseases that differentially affect women), didactic training, interaction with scientists from other disciplines pursuing problems in women's health, establishing a visiting scientist program, and formalizing interdisciplinary research links with the substantial number of clinical programs in women's health. The program now proposes to build on this foundation of success by adding a new outpatient mentored clinical experience for all Scholars, refining the didactic portion of the training program, adding two new research areas to our mentor pool to enhance the interdisciplinary nature of the program, and by interfacing with a substantial new institutional commitment to interdisciplinary research. By bridging fellowship training and independent faculty status, the BIRCWH program has the potential to significantly impact women's health by increasing the number of outstanding scientists utilizing novel and cooperative approaches to address problems that include depression, osteoporosis, lupus, type 2 diabetes, urinary tract infections, heart attacks, certain cancers, and infertility.